West Stockbridge — Following the Planning Board’s October 15 meeting, residents can now mark their calendars with upcoming dates for three public hearings.
The group will host a public hearing on November 18 covering a special permit for a new 1.15-acre, ADA-compliant dog park in town, adjacent to the Town Hall at 21 State Line Road. Those permit documents were filed October 1 by the Dog Park Committee and can be found here.
A public hearing covering an application for the renewal of a cell-tower operation at 250 Great Barrington Road is scheduled for December 16. The filing was made since the group’s October 1 meeting, with Chair Dana Bixby commenting that the applicant’s attorney stated the document doesn’t contain any “substantial changes” from the previous application. The renewal is required every five years pursuant to town regulations, she said at the previous session.
Board members also approved a public hearing for January 6, 2025, covering the proposed short-term rental (STR) regulations. On October 7, the town’s Select Board voted to send the measure back to the Planning Board to be set for public hearing following two consecutive meetings discussing the draft. That proposed STR bylaw can be found here.
As defined by the West Stockbridge proposal, an STR is a unit within a home or on a property that is rented for 30 consecutive days or less.
Currently, West Stockbridge doesn’t have regulations allowing STRs within the town’s borders. The Planning Board attempted to tackle a proposed draft governing the units in conjunction with regulating accessory dwelling units (ADUs), or rentable living spaces attached or detached to a single-family-home lot, before the Commonwealth unveiled its Affordable Housing Act (AHA). That new state legislation includes a section pertaining to ADUs and goes into effect on February 2.
During the session, the Planning Board agreed to continue waiting to finalize its local ADU proposal until Commonwealth guidelines are posted to provide a better explanation of the AHA provisions.
